Morgan opened the show with a great live panel on yesterday's Dow
crash featuring Erin Burnett, Ali
Velshi, and Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal.

Short version: Scary stuff. Related: CNN would do well to get Burnett out there as
much as possible ahead of her show launching.

Back to the panel. Velshi lay the blame for the crash on the
European Central Bank: "They
attempted to go in, reassure investors by shoring up the euro and
buying bonds in euros, putting money into the system. It had the
opposite effect. It caused investors to run for the hills. But,
you know, they couldn't get enough out while European markets
were open. So it moved into U.S. markets.

And with all this distraction with the debt ceiling conversation,
I mean it's as if the world's economy, which is the American
economy, was walking around with a broken leg and two broken
arms, and then someone came along and punched it in the
nose.

I mean that's how really unneeded this whole debt ceiling debacle
really was, in my view. But yes, it is -- it is interrelated and
it all goes to show you, Piers, how much the world needs the
American economy to stay strong.

As Ali is pointing out, in aggregate, obviously, the European
economy is the second biggest. As a single economy, China is the
second biggest, and we're still three times bigger than China
despite its rise. So the world needs America to get better and
the economic data has just been pretty darn weak.